Donation received by African schoolchildren with smiles

on 11 March 2017

The Oral Health Foundation has donated educational materials to children at Akato Primary School in Togo, West Africa.

The charity donated the resources as part of a care package that was delivered to the school, around eight kilometres outside of Togo’s capital, Lomé.

At an acceptance celebration at the school, children, teachers, village elders and His Highness Torgbui Agbeve Cyrille (local traditional ruler of Akato-Viepe) welcomed the donations with beaming smiles.

Speaking on the donation, Amanda Oakey, director of educational resources at the Oral Health Foundation said: ‘To have the opportunity to bring smiles to these children faces is amazing.

‘We take many things for granted in the UK, like being able to access quality oral health educational materials, we often forget how hard it is for some areas around the world.

“We hope that by providing the children with the tools they need to look after their own oral health and educate many more children in the coming years we can really make a huge difference in this community.’

Oral healthcare in West Africa is a huge problem, it is not seen as a priority by some authorities and many are working with small budgets in over-populated areas. Many people are forced to travel for days to get oral healthcare which they desperately need.

Global problem

Tooth decay is a huge problem globally, the World Health Organization estimates that five billion people worldwide suffer from tooth decay due to a lack of effective oral health provisions.

The charity hopes that by proving the school with vital educational materials the children can better look after their oral health throughout their lives and also pass on good habits to future generations.

Dr Nigel Carter, CEO of the Oral Health Foundation, added: ‘As an organisation we are humbled to have opportunities such as this to give children who do not have as much opportunity as many of us do in the UK a helping hand.

‘At the Oral Health Foundation, we have an ongoing commitment to help bring smiles to millions of people around the world and through vital work like this and the expanding reach National Smile Month we are continuing to make a difference.’